#Lifechanging

One million Lotto kisses on Valentine’s Day

A lucky penny has struck again, and this time bought luck and love to a couple on Valentine’s Day.

Only last month in Ashton-under-Lyne, Sean Lloyd’s penny helped him bank a Lotto jackpot of £1.8M. Now a lucky penny has helped Richard Thursby and Sally Cloke win the special Valentine’s Day Lotto raffle and bank £1 million.

The couple form Virginia Water in Surrey found the special coin in a discount store while out shopping. Richard explains, “This Valentine’s I joked with Sally that I loved her so much, she could enjoy a little shopping spree – in a discount store! While enjoying her retail therapy, Sally spotted a penny on the floor and when I picked it up, I joked that we were in for a dose of luck.”

After a ‘romantic’ dinner of burger and chips, the couple stopped to grab a beer for their evening at a local shop where Richard decided to buy a few Lucky Dips for the special Valentine’s Day Lotto draw. It was not until the following morning that the carpenter decided to check his tickets.

With one of the Lotto codes matching he turned to Sally, white-faced with shock, and said ‘we’ve won £20,000’.

Delighted at the thought of a £20,000 win, the pair hopped into the car and drove to the nearest Post Office, not realising that it was a special Lotto raffle draw and they had won £1 million. Inside the Post Office they discovered they had to ring The National Lottery Line as they were instant millionaires.

Richard said, “It was an unbelievable moment. There we were, parked up in our slightly battered S-reg Honda, being told by a lady from The National Lottery that we’d won £1 million. We are just your average family, working hard and enjoying time together, I'd never believed this sort of thing would happen to people like us!”

With the money now safely in the bank the pair are slowly planning for the future. A house move is likely and the much loved Honda might be upgraded for something a little more modern.

Richard said, “Although it’s still early days, the future is looking really bright. We still can’t stop laughing at how we celebrated Valentine’s this year and how different it could be next year. That said, we are very down to earth so I can’t promise we wouldn’t do exactly the same again – a discount store and a burger – but maybe it would be in New York not Egham!”

For every Lotto line played, players automatically receive a randomly-generated Lotto raffle entry, giving them a chance to win £20,000 prizes in every draw. This Valentine’s Day, a special Lotto raffle draw took place – in addition to 50 guaranteed winners of £20,000, ten prizes of a guaranteed £1 million were also won.

The National Lottery has been changing the lives of winners and supporting good causes across the UK since 1994. In that time, there have been more than 7,000 new millionaires created and by playing The National Lottery you raise over £4 million for Good Causes every dayΔ.

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